Returning four of their five starters from last season, the Oklahoma Sooners will have a say about how the Big 12 shakes out next year. Depth remains somewhat of a question considering coach Lon Kruger will be relying on inexperience, especially in the frontcourt, but if there's any coach that can piece things together with new players, it's Kruger.
Oklahoma basketball preview: A guard-heavy squad hopes for post impact
The Sooners shot their way to 23 games in 2013-14 and hope to carry a bit of momentum and experience into the coming year.
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Never one to ignore the power of junior college recruiting, Kruger has been well known to take advantage of the NCAA transfer rules -- after all, it was Kruger’s own son, Kevin, who was a controversial graduate transfer to UNLV several years back.
TaShawn Thomas's eligibility after transferring from Houston to Oklahoma remains up in the air, but an NCAA clearance for him to play would give a little more indication about how good the Sooners will be.
Otherwise, it'll be an on a known group of guards to lead Oklahoma. The Sooners return leading scorer Buddy Hield, who last year averaged 16.5 points per game while shooting 38.6 percent from three-point range. Though OU lost second leading scorer Cameron Clark, it also returns promising sophomore point guard Jordan Woodard and his 10.3 points and 4.6 assists averaged last season. Combo guard Isaiah Cousins rounds out the starting perimeter unit and is the best three-point threat of the perimeter trio.
Add junior college transfer Dinjiyl Walker and sophomore Frank Booker to the group of guards, and the Sooners will, at worst, gun their way past opponents as they did last season.
Projected starting lineup
PG: Jordan Woodard, sophomore
SG: Isaiah Cousins, junior
SF: Buddy Hield, junior
PF: D.J. Bennett, senior / TaShawn Thomas**
C: Ryan Spangler, junior
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How the Sooners can go deep in the tournament: Finding offensive options in the post
Thomas’ eligibility would solidify the starting lineup and give Kruger something he didn’t have last season. Thomas was a dominant force in AAC play last year, averaging 15.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game. Double-double threat Ryan Spangler will be able to carry some of the load, but having two interior offensive threats could go a long way.
Oklahoma’s trajectory without Thomas makes a lot like last year’s club. In any case, the frontcourt development will be key. Senior D.J. Bennett is the most experience big man outside of Spangler but only played 10 minutes per game last year. So any impact from freshmen big men Dante Buford, Khadeem Lattin and Jamuni McNeace would be positive signs for Kruger.
How they can lose early: One bad shooting night
An up-tempo, three-point happy squad was efficient overall during the regular season, but when it did lose, it more often than not came when the shots weren’t falling.
An overtime loss to North Dakota State in the second round of the NCAA tournament a year ago saw the Sooners launch 30 three-pointers, 40 percent of which were makes, but they only shot 34.7 percent from the floor. They took 21 more shot attempts and 18 less free throws than their opponent in that tournament game. The Sooners The Sooners had and still have scorers, but they're one-dimensional and over reliant on their guards at this point. Even when the offensive rebounds give them second looks, they don't have alternative ways of winning.
Without a post presence, Oklahoma must use its spacing to create driving lanes to the hoop, which it did well for the most part last season. Plus, little bit of defense -- the Sooners allowed too many threes despite their small ball -- wouldn’t hurt.
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